


Ash & Sinew

by karasgotagun (jazzmckay)



Series: Vampire AU (a.k.a. gay vampire/hunter shenanigans) [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - World of Darkness (Games) Setting, Battle Couple, Body Horror, F/F, Hunter Tina Chen, Secret Identity, Vampire North
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:00:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21790441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jazzmckay/pseuds/karasgotagun
Summary: Tina Chen suspects that Jericho—one of Detroit’s many nightclubs—is run by vampires. If it’s true, they’re a threat she’s prepared to eradicate.
Relationships: Hank Anderson & Tina Chen, Tina Chen/North
Series: Vampire AU (a.k.a. gay vampire/hunter shenanigans) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1570300
Comments: 30
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

Before Tina has even reached the bungalow porch, she’s greeted by loud barking from within. Half a moment after that, there are footsteps and a voice yelling at her through the door.

“I’ve said everything I have to say, we’re done!”

“You sure?” Tina calls back. “Because I brought food. You don’t usually complain about that!”

A beat of silence, and then a series of locks unclick. The door is wrenched open and Tina comes face to face with Hank, who’s fixing her with a stony glare. The menacing effect is dulled by the fact that his hair looks like a bird’s nest and Sumo is trying to squeeze his way around his legs.

Tina raises her eyebrows. “Have you forgotten what a shower is, Anderson?”

“Fuck off,” Hank says, but he reaches down to push Sumo out of the way and give Tina enough space to slip inside.

She crosses the familiar living room into the kitchen, where she sets down a bag of take-out. The sound of Sumo’s nails against linoleum follows her and a cold nose presses into her hand.

“Hey, buddy,” Tina says as she kneels down to give the dog some attention.

It has been a month since she last saw Hank. Not since their ragtag trio met up before Gavin took a job at Belle Isle Tower and Tina started scoping out Jericho, an old freighter ship turned nightclub. She has no idea what Hank’s been doing in this time; the three of them rarely hunt together, between their differences in style and a mutual ineffectiveness at teamwork.

“What was all that about, huh?” Tina asks.

Next to her, Hank is unpackaging the food. Tina gives Sumo a final scratch behind the ears and stands up, going to the sink to wash her hands.

“Thought you were someone else.”

“Someone unwelcome, clearly.”

Hank grumbles under his breath, sits down, and digs into a burger. “Fowler came around, hoping to get me back on the force,” he says between bites.

Sitting across from him, Tina grabs a carton of fries and busies herself with them, trying to avoid thinking about one of the last crime scenes she saw while working at Central almost three years ago. “Still?”

“Seems to think the routine is good for me.” Hank shrugs. “Maybe he’s right. Doesn’t mean I’ll go back.”

Tina isn’t about to get personal visits from their old captain, but if she did, there’s little Fowler could offer her to make her take up the badge again. None of them can go back to a world of ignorance and red tape.

They eat in silence for awhile, Hank’s unfocused eyes trained down at the table and Tina watching the way he moves through the motions like he’s not even cognisant. There isn’t much to say. No point in even trying to make small talk. Neither of them has a conventional job, normal hobbies, or a proper social circle.

Sometimes, Tina feels like they’re barely more alive than the creatures they hunt. It's the price they pay.

Hank crumples up the paper wrapping from his burger and tosses it at the garbage can in the corner, sinking it with ease.

“Three points,” Tina says.

“I’m in the wrong line of work.”

Tina snorts and leans back in her chair.

Hank’s eyes finally lock onto her. “How’s your mission going?”

“So far, I’ve only done recon,” Tina says. She’s been to the nightclub enough times to confirm her suspicions: Jericho is not run by humans. “I’ve noticed at least eight of them. I’m going back tomorrow night; going to see if I can get closer to one of them.”

She has taken stock of Jericho’s supernatural management, and she has picked her target. There’s one who keeps to herself, doesn’t talk to anyone. Tina’s hoping she’s an outlier and desperate enough for an easy victim that she can be baited. It won’t be difficult for Tina to play her role—the target is a stoic strawberry-blond who wears leather jackets and combat boots. It’s the sort of look that would hold Tina enrapt, if she were dealing with a human.

“Don’t take any risks,” Hank says, in a rare expression of care. “If it comes down to a fight, you give me a call.”

“Got you on speed dial.”

They fall back into silence, listening to the ticking of the clock on the wall and Sumo’s snoring. Tina feels like she should say something else, maybe promise to visit more often. Instead, she tosses out her garbage and then steps towards the threshold between the kitchen and the living room, signalling that she’s not planning to stick around.

“Look after yourself, Hank,” she says.

He waves a noncommittal hand at her.

Tina turns away from him and sees herself out.

Moving in time to the bass-boosted music, Tina spins in front of her dancing partner, allowing herself to get a good view of the crowded room around them. The guy curls his hands over her hips and pulls her closer until her back is flush with his chest, not realising that her attention is elsewhere.

Throughout Jericho’s cargo hold, Tina can see several of her suspected targets.

There are always two behind the bar. Tonight, it’s the blond one who’s so pale his skin looks grey when it isn’t highlighted by the club’s flashing lights, and another with eyes so black Tina doubts it’s the result of contact lenses. Backdropped by painted murals that stretch up the ship's high walls, the DJ is absorbed with his music. He didn’t put a ping on Tina’s radar until she saw him talking with the others, who defer to him in a way that makes Tina suspect he’s the leader. There’s the strawberry-blond who’s always up on the second-floor walkway that loops above the hold, leaning against the railing and keeping sharp eyes on the crowd below. Tina has caught glimpses of others coming and going—a tall, dark one with unnatural golden eyes who rarely emerges from the private, administrative parts of the ship, and another couple who move around the perimeter of the room, keeping overwatch.

All vampires, all more dangerous than they look.

Tina’s dancing partner slides a hand further around her, palm low on her abdomen. Resisting the urge to grab his wrist and move it, Tina sweeps her eyes around the cargo hold again, landing on the one who has caught her eye the most.

From the walkway, she spends each night watching the club with an unamused expression, interacting with no one. To get her foot in the door, Tina needs to draw some attention to herself, paint a target on her back.

She needs to entice the beast.

When the music slows and switches tracks, Tina extracts herself from the man behind her, not even bothering to make an excuse as she slips away into the crowd of bodies before he can stop her.

At the bar, she leans up against the metal counter—styled to match the hull of the ship—and orders herself a drink.

She watches the blond one mix, shake, and pour it, noting his talon-like fingernails. They’re either one hell of a fashion statement, or a supernatural trait he can’t mask.

When he sets her glass down, Tina bends further across the counter, as if to collude. “Hey. The woman up there,” she says, nodding at the walkway above. “She a regular? If I were to buy her a drink, what would you suggest?”

The vampire’s pale eyes flick up to the walkway and then he looks back down at Tina, giving her something of a consoling smile. “You’re not going to get far with her, she likes to fly solo.”

Tina frowns. “You don’t think I’d have any chance at all?”

With a shrug, he pushes her glass further across the counter, trying to dismiss her. Tina just picks it up and takes a deep drink of it without moving away.

“If you know her, you must have some tips. Come on, she’s the only woman who’s caught my eye like this in ages.”

The vampire starts to look uncomfortable. “She, uh, doesn’t drink alcohol. Don’t know what to tell you.”

“Well, rats,” Tina says. She drops a couple bills on the countertop, leans back, and sighs to herself before taking another drink. “Thanks anyway, man. Had to try. She looks worth it.”

The smile she gets in response looks more pained than anything. Tina turns her back on him and finds herself a booth in a dark corner to sip her drink. A couple is getting handsy with each other at the other end of the half-circle bench, too wrapped up in each other to notice her.

She doesn’t drink as much as she pretends to, only holding the glass to her lips. Nodding her head along with the beat of the music, she glances over to the strawberry-blond. She’s standing up straight, now, her arms crossed over her chest. The scowl on her face tells Tina that she isn’t pleased about what she must have overheard.

It throws Tina for a loop. In the past, she’s had luck luring her targets away from safety with little more than a bat of her eyelashes. Sometimes all it takes is going for a long walk alone in the darker, less populated parts of the city and just waiting for someone to show their fangs. She’s begging to be bitten, but her bait isn’t working as well as she’s come to expect.

She should have started with the bouncer on the ship’s deck, the skittish one with the fire or sun burn on the left side of his face. He would have been easier to manipulate, and easier to dust without anyone noticing.

It’s a moot point. The night is a bust, and Tina decides she’s better off keeping things level, for now. She doesn’t want to move too quickly.

Setting her half-finished glass down on the booth table, she stands up, puts a minor sway in her footing as if she’s tipsy, and makes her way across the cargo hold to the hallway that leads to the deck. She’ll come back in a week and hope for better results.

Tina’s next visit to Jericho is uneventful. She drinks enough to look like she’s enjoying herself, dances with whoever gives her a good vantage point to watch the room, and tries not to let her eyes fall on the strawberry-blond too often. The time after that, she gets caught looking and the vampire seems to be considering her, but still doesn’t make a move.

The show of restraint is unlike anything Tina has met with before. She’s debating whether to take a more aggressive approach or to cut her losses, until one night almost two months after she started her recon, her patience finally pays off.

“Hey!” someone calls at her over the pounding music.

Hearing the discontent in their tone, Tina whirls around and squares up.

A man is pursuing her through the crowd, eyes hard as he looks down his nose at her. Nothing about him stands out as supernatural, and she struggles to fathom what reason he has for approaching her.

“You think it’s cool to lead people on?” he snaps.

They’ve started to draw some attention, others around them turning their heads to watch the argument.

“What the fuck are you on about?” Tina asks. “Back off.”

The guy sneers. “That’s rich, after how you shoved your ass against me.”

It’s enough for Tina to connect the dots and recognise him as the guy from a few weeks prior, whom she’d walked away from once she’d decided to close in on her target. As she recalls, he’d been the one to enforce how closely they danced. Tina had no interest in him outside of using him to act natural and blend in.

“What, you think you’re entitled now?” she throws back at him. “It was just a dance, asshole.”

She turns on her heel, unwilling to entertain him any longer.

A hand grabs onto her bicep, stopping her. Tina steels herself for a fight, even if it means revealing the combat capabilities that she would rather keep a secret until she needs them against the vampires.

But the hand releases her almost as quickly as it took hold. Tina spins around to see the guy’s wrist clutched in  _ her  _ hand, the vampire who has always been unmoved by anything around her, even Tina’s show of interest.

“Pretty sure she told you to back off.”

“We were just—"

The vampire wrenches his arm to the side and he gasps in pain, whole body jolting.

“Don’t make either of us repeat ourselves.”

“Alright, alright!”

She lets go of him and he backs away, eyes roving between the two of them. Their audience has grown, drawn in by the vampire’s unusual interference, and they step aside for the guy as he turns with his tail tucked between his legs, escaping through them.

Tina turns to the vampire and gives her a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

Pale eyes scan her up and down. With a single nod and not a word, the vampire starts back into the crowd.

Tina follows. She waits until they’re at the edge of the dance floor, on the way to the staircase, before speaking. “Hey, I’m Tina.”

“North.”

After the past couple months, even something as simple as a name is a victory, and Tina feels bolstered. “I’d like to thank you properly. Can I get you something to drink? A pop?” she asks, leaning into the lie she was told the night she talked to the bartender.

“No, I’m good.”

Tina isn’t deterred, not when North hasn’t told her to leave her alone, yet. Together, they walk up the stairs and circle the second floor to where North always resides.

“Maybe something else then,” Tina says as she drops an elbow onto the railing, tilting her body in towards North. “A dance…?”

“I don’t dance.”

Tina has noticed how little the club scene suits North, and she’s curious to know why. She came to Jericho anticipating vampires who use the nightclub culture to ensnare humans, but with every night she returns, they seem more like genuine managers of a business—no strings attached, no secret perks.

“Tell me about yourself, then,” Tina says, not willing to give up so soon.

North throws her a bewildered look. “What?”

“You know, what do you like to do in your free time? How do you take your coffee? Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets?”

The questions make North scoff. Tina doubts she finds the irony of them as amusing as Tina does. “What do you care?”

“There are lots of ways to enjoy someone’s company,” Tina says. “I’m happy to just talk.”

For the first time, North holds her gaze longer than a fleeting moment. Tina is very aware that she’s being inspected and she tries not to let her heart race too fast as North sizes her up.

Then, North’s shoulders drop a fraction and she looks away again, losing some of her stiff stature. She surprises Tina by maintaining the safe distance between them, but answering her all the same.

“I don’t drink coffee. And… sunsets, I guess.”

Tina has to wonder how long it’s been since North saw a sunset. She wonders if vampires ever miss things like that, or if appreciation for them leaves along with their humanity.

She nods in agreement. “Me too. No offense to sunrises, but I like to still be asleep at that hour.”

“Yeah. I never catch them, either.”

North gives no further reply; she continues to gaze down at the dance floor with her usual quiet disinterest, mindlessly threading her fingers together in alternating configurations. She appears awkward, as if she’s unaccustomed to interactions like these.

The longer Tina hangs around Jericho, the more it dawns on her that this group will be tougher to take on than any other she’s run into. If it weren’t for a few physical features that Tina knows to look for, they could pass as human.

They’re smarter, for certain. They aren’t likely to make stupid mistakes or draw undue attention to themselves. It’s a challenge Tina hasn’t encountered during her three years of hunting and it’s going to take a delicate hand.

She searches for a safe, broad conversation topic. “Interesting place for a nightclub, huh? A freighter ship of all things.”

Painted murals in fiery red and gunmetal black adorn the metal sides of the ship’s cargo hold, making it more dynamic than the plain, industrial look of the halls that lead to it, but its aesthetic is still a far cry from the popular clubs downtown.

“It was a gift.” North taps her fingers on the railing as she glances across the room to the DJ. “His father had friends in high places.”

It’s vague enough that Tina can’t parse any actionable details; ‘father’ likely means Sire, but Tina hasn't noticed anyone with that level of ancient aura, and a ‘friend in high places’ could be a few people in Detroit, with how frequently power changes hands.

“You know him?” Tina asks.

North nods but offers nothing else.

“Is he the one who painted the murals?”

Again, North nods. “He’s got quite the creative streak.”

The murals are good; Tina isn’t the artistic type herself, but she can still pick up on the emotion radiating from the brush strokes, vivid through the dramatic movement of the pieces.

A vampire with an eye for art. This group continues to defy expectations.

“I like them,” Tina says. “Makes for a classier atmosphere than some of the clubs in the city, you know? Eden always felt a bit scummy, to me.”

From the slight pull of North’s upper lip, she’s not a fan of the other nightclub, either. “Don’t go to Eden. It’s… I’ve heard bad things about that place.”

Tina blinks, surprised by North’s conviction and heartfelt insistence, obviously born of personal experience and serving to put Jericho on a higher level. Tina would have called both Eden and Jericho dangerous in their own ways, but she’s finding Jericho remarkably hospitable despite its management.

“Yeah, okay. I won’t. Thanks for the heads up. I like it better here, anyway.”

For a vampire—and one who looks appropriately intimidating—North acts far from dangerous. Tina isn’t sure how to respond to it, how to contextualise it. She doesn’t even think it’s an act; she’s seen plenty of dangerous people put on airs to get what they want, but North isn’t so measured and smooth as perps who are all charisma until they’re free to show their true colours. None of the Jericho vampires fit the usual bill, and doubt is building in the back of Tina’s mind.

North has returned to restlessly tapping the walkway railing, so Tina steers them back to safe waters. “You know, you caught my eye from a distance, but you’re even cooler in person.”

It happens to be the truth—not just a part of Tina’s secret mission.

North shoots her a disbelieving look. “You don’t even know me, not really.”

“What, you’re telling me you don’t already have an impression of me, too?” Tina shrugs. “Besides, I’m good at reading people.”

She had to be, in her former career path. She’s not easy to fool, and North definitely isn’t trying to fool her.

“Fine,” North says, rolling her eyes. “I think you’re nuts, but fine.”

“All part of my charm.” Tina winks at North, who only responds with a deadpan expression, but not one that’s laced with any true ire. “I mean it, it’s good to finally meet you.”

North rubs a hand up her opposite arm. “Sure. You, too.”

Deciding to call it a night so she can think about what she has learned, Tina pushes away from the railing. North glances over at her and Tina puts on a smile. “Thanks again for the assist, North. I’ll see you around.”

Once North gives a single nod, Tina turns away and goes back downstairs, feeling like she’s being watched the whole way.

At the bar, she orders a shot for the road from the blond who served her when she first asked about North.

After he sets it down on the counter, she says, “Hey, man—”

“Simon.”

“Hey, Simon. Think my chances have improved, any?”

“You’re in uncharted waters,” Simon answers. “Nothing I can do to guide you now.”

Feeling unmoored and lost at sea, Tina taps her shot against the surface of the bar, knocks it back, and then places the empty glass down in front of the vampire. “Cheers to that,” she says.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heads up: this is the chapter where the body horror tag becomes relevant. it's only referenced, not shown, in this chapter, but read cautiously if necessary!

With the ice broken, Tina doesn’t waste any time acting coy. She returns to Jericho more frequently and always makes her way up to the second floor where North is waiting, seeking further understanding on how she and her cohorts differ from other vampires. At every turn, North continues to be pleasant company: she’s blunt and straightforward instead of aloof, quiet and guarded instead of predatory.

There are moments when Tina forgets what North is. It becomes harder to think of Jericho’s management as monsters, harder to follow through with her initial plans; she isn’t in the business of pointless killing, she’s in the business of eliminating threats to innocent people, but Jericho hasn’t shown any sign of being the danger Tina thought they were.

“You come around like a bad habit,” North greets one night, relaxed humour in her voice.

Tina slots herself next to North, mirroring her position at the railing. “Been called worse things.”

“Not sure that’s something to be proud of.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I give as good as I get.”

North huffs a soft breath, almost a laugh. “I don’t doubt it.”

They lapse into comfortable silence, a contrast to the noise and bustle around them. Hanging out with North always feels calmer than it should, considering the nightclub venue, and she thinks that’s what North prefers. Tina is coming to enjoy the change of pace, too.

“Hey, North, can I ask you something?”

North raises her eyebrows. “Too late.”

Tina rolls her eyes at the bad joke but proceeds without teasing. “I was just wondering… why do you hang out here? You don’t drink, you don’t dance… it just seems like you’re not really that enthused to be here. So why are you?”

Lights from above flash across North’s face, framing her cheekbones and making her eyes shift colour. She doesn’t respond at first, and Tina wonders if she’s veered too close to personal territory, but then North’s gaze flits across the cargo hold and lands on the duo working the bar, then the DJ at the other end of the room.

“I’m a co-owner,” North says. “I’m keeping an eye on my investment.”

The words don’t match up with her line of sight, nor her demeanor. There’s fondness in her expression, and the ease with which she can find her fellow vampires throughout the room suggests she chose this perch on the upper walkway so she can watch over them.

That protectiveness isn’t a quality Tina ever saw in vampires until Jericho. She’s used to them being disorganized, self-centered, sometimes even feral, and she thought that was the case for all of them.

“Makes sense,” she says. “How’d you get involved?”

North shrugs a shoulder. “It may not be my scene, but it’s a lot of people’s. It’s the place to be, and the other owners… they’re a good bunch.”

“Don’t you get bored, though? You can keep an eye on the place and still have a bit of fun.”

North remains quiet for a moment, before she turns to face Tina completely. “How about I ask you something, instead? Why do you come here alone and dance with people you aren’t the slightest bit interested in?”

Tina blinks, feeling a pang of hurt in her chest.

When she first came to Jericho, she wasn’t looking to get herself attached, she was on the hunt and made her choices for tactical reasons. She hasn’t needed to, since she and North started talking, but in a way, North is still seeing the heart of it. These days, Tina’s social circle is more of a triangle, and she doesn’t make an effort to expand it. With the turn her life took three years ago, having acquaintances outside of hunting hasn’t felt like an option.

Now that North has mentioned it, she misses going to bars and nightclubs for reasons other than weeding out vampires. It puts a knot in her stomach to think about how she only came to Jericho with the intent to kill, assuming these vampires were nothing but monsters, only to meet someone she actually looks forward to seeing every few nights.

“I don’t know,” she says, frowning. “Guess I wasn’t really serious about it. Just looking to not be alone for a while.”

“There are worse things than being alone.”

Tina can tell there’s hidden meaning behind those words and she itches to pursue it, to ask for context. She’s curious about North’s history and the circumstances that lead her to becoming a vampire, but she doubts North would open up, even if she knew it was safe to talk about her supernatural nature with Tina.

All Tina can do is acknowledge the weight of North’s statement. “That’s grim.”

North shrugs, unbothered. She says nothing else on the matter.

A couple months ago, Tina would have expected North to claim she could chase away Tina’s loneliness, claim that if Tina went somewhere private with her, she could make her forget all her troubles. She would have been charismatic and enthralling as she led Tina to the jaws of death.

But that isn’t North. That isn’t any of the Jericho vampires, from what Tina has seen.

Before she gives in and accepts it as truth once and for all, she needs to be sure, needs to make one last attempt at provoking North into action. “You sure I can’t convince you to have a good time?”

North pivots to lean against the railing again, face forward and away from Tina. “Who says I’m not already enjoying myself?”

Tina draws in a sharp breath.

True to form, North favours spending time together on the walkway where it’s less hectic and they can talk. True to form, she’s genuine. Far from the monster Tina thought she would be.

North’s words are cautious, but significant—her hesitance may be born of thinking she needs to hide her nature, thinking Tina would reject her if she ever found out. 

She isn’t the only one with secrets, and Tina wouldn’t reject her. This is what Tina has been angling for since the beginning, and now that there’s a hint of progress, she isn’t sure what she should do about it, anymore.

“Alright, then,” Tina says good-naturedly. “Had to at least try.”

“You’re obstinate, I swear,” North teases.

“Determined. I like the sound of that better.”

“You’re nosy.”

“Curious.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

Tina smirks. “But satisfaction brought it back.”

North’s eyes drop to follow the motion of her lips and then she swallows, throat working. “You’re a pest.”

“I must be good company, though, or else you’d have kicked me to the curb already, like that guy you saved me from the night we met.”

North sneers, which reveals one of her fangs. “He wasn’t worth the time.”

Her reaction borders on protectiveness that puts a flutter in Tina’s stomach, the kind of sensation she hasn’t felt in years. The fact that it’s being caused by a vampire should stop her dead in her tracks, but she’s beyond considering that a deal breaker.

Three years ago, Tina saw the worst a vampire could do and made a generalisation. She’s a big enough person that she can admit when she’s wrong, and she knows that North is different.

A weight lands on her wrist, where she’s been clutching the walkway railing. Tina looks down to see North gripping her, skin unnaturally cold for the warm nightclub. It isn’t unwelcome; the cool touch is relaxing and grounding.

“I’m serious. Don’t even waste a thought on him. You deserve better than random assholes,” North says, misunderstanding Tina’s silence.

The incident from a few weeks ago isn’t something Tina needs reassurance on—she can look after herself, and she had no personal stake in the matter—but North’s comfort is touching all the same.

“I won’t,” she says. “Besides, my attention has been grabbed by one person in particular, lately. I’m not wasting thought on anyone else at all.”

North’s hand squeezes around her wrist and then is pulled away as if she’s been shocked. She averts her eyes to roam the cargo hold as she gathers herself, before glancing back up to Tina’s face and giving a tiny nod. “That’s… good.”

Flustered is a new look on North. Tina grins. “I think so, too.”

A small voice in the back of her head reminds her that continuing down this path is a grave mistake, doomed to fail. It’s a voice that’s getting easier to ignore. It should scare her that everything is changing so drastically, but it’s hard to, when she has felt more alive in these past few weeks than in the three years before.

When she leaves the club that night, she once again shies away from the smarter choice, and tells North she’ll see her again soon.

Tina knows she needs to make a decision about how to handle her new perspective, needs to examine her growing feelings for North and figure out how to proceed. The path of least resistance is to stop coming to Jericho altogether. She can tell Hank and Gavin that the vampires are too numerous, that they stick too close to each other, and that dusting Jericho would take her, Hank, and Gavin combined, as well as a lot of firepower and a stroke of luck.

But it would mean never seeing North again, which is something Tina selfishly doesn’t want, and she isn’t a fan of admitting defeat. She puts it off, telling herself there’s no harm in a few more nights.

Then, the decision is made for her.

One night, before Tina has even reached the staircase to the second level, a human teenager walks into Jericho unimpeded, like she’s been there before. She can’t be older than fifteen or sixteen and she looks completely out of place, clothed in jeans and a striped cardigan, with her long, dark hair pulled back in a neat ponytail.

The girl goes straight to the DJ and he reacts as soon as he sees her, inputting some automatic settings into his equipment and then stepping out from behind it. 

Tina gets as close as she can without emerging from the crowd and drawing attention.

“Markus, I need to talk to you,” the girl says. “Privately, please.”

“Why isn’t Kara with you?”

“I’ll explain. In private.”

Markus nods and lays a hand on her back as he leads her to the staircase upstairs, where North is already rousing from her usual calm stance.

Whatever is happening has happened before, and dread coils in Tina’s stomach. She watches the two vampires and the teenager disappear through a door that’s inaccessible to the public, a chill passing through her body.

She’d been convinced, but now it looks like North and the others only put on an exceptionally strong front while they drink from teenagers behind closed doors.

Fists clenched and heart pounding, Tina crosses to the entrance of the cargo hold. Instead of following the main hallway like she’s supposed to, she slips into the shadows of a side path, striking a balance between speed and stealth as she searches for an alternate way up to the deck.

When she finds an exit to the open air, she picks up the pace, jogging along the side of the ship until she’s above where she thinks the administration rooms are. On the side of the hull, she finds an open porthole, vaults herself over the safety railing, and swings herself back down into the ship.

The drop causes an unsteady landing and Tina stumbles to the dusty floor of the cluttered storeroom. She suppresses a cough as she stands up and moves through the darkness towards the doorway, listening closely for an indication that someone is nearby.

She draws the combat knife from the strap on her thigh, hidden beneath her skirt. It's the only weapon she has, meant for a one-on-one altercation where she has surprise on her side, but she can’t stand by while a teenager is led into the lion’s den.

Across the hall, she hears faint voices. Tina takes a deep, calming breath, willing her adrenaline down before she gets any closer. With luck, the vampires will be too distracted to notice the sound of her presence, if she can keep her cool until it’s time to pounce.

“Are you sure?” Markus is asking.

“She said she wouldn’t be long. And you know my mom wouldn’t disappear on me like this.”

Tina frowns, turning her ear closer to the source of the voices. If this ‘Kara’ is the teenager’s mom and she’s associated with Jericho, that would mean a vampire raising a human child as her own, which is unheard of.

The next one to speak is North, accompanied by her booted footsteps, pacing. “If he’s a threat, why didn’t she tell us? This is the kind of thing we need to be aware of so we can handle it before it draws unwanted attention.”

There’s a pause before the teenager responds, hesitant with her words. “Kara and Zlatko have history. A long one. She doesn’t like to talk about it.”

Already, Tina can see that her knee jerk assumption was completely off base. She chews her bottom lip; she should have had more faith. There's something going on that's no fault of Jericho's, and Tina plans to find out what, but there's no fight to be had, here—they're all on the same side.

Someone sighs. Markus says, “I understand, Alice, but we need you to tell us anything you can. This should be taken care of before more humans lose their lives and before the police or hunters catch wind of it.”

“Okay,” the teenager—Alice—says. “He’s got a mansion on the other side of town, where he… uses his abilities to create monsters. They act as guards, too. Kara said they would let her pass if she was on her own.”

“Can you show us where?” Markus asks.

Alice recites an address and there’s a quiet minute while they look it up. Tina isn’t familiar with the area—she fishes her phone out and taps the street name into the GPS, which marks an old residential part of the city.

Alice continues. “He, um… he already caught the attention of the police a few years ago, but they never traced the body back to him.”

“One of the abominations was discovered?” an unfamiliar voice asks.

“Shit,” North mutters.

“Not exactly,” Alice says, voice so faint Tina has to strain to hear her. “He took a little boy. Changed him so much that… he died before the process was complete. The body was found, but that’s it, and now Zlatko is doing it again. Kara thought she could talk him down, but she never came back. Please, you have to make sure she’s okay.”

A harsh shiver runs down Tina’s spine.

She thinks she knows what they’re talking about.

The timing is right. The victim type is a match. It has to be—

The thought alone brings bile to her throat. She squeezes her eyes shut, hand tightening around the hilt of her combat knife, but nothing can ward off the memories. That little, broken body, twisted and malformed, limbs in the wrong place and face no longer distinguishable. Bones poking out from the skin like hooks and claws. Something no longer human.

Knees weak, Tina crumples into the steel wall, doubling over and holding her unsettled stomach. Every breath sets her lungs aflame. She thought the more vampires she dusted, the less impact it would have on her, but it’s still fresh, forever seared into her mind.

Hank’s boy, only identifiable by a DNA test. Tina will never forget the crime scene, and she’ll never forget the heartbreak and rage when Hank found out. The destruction he wreaked upon Fowler’s office, the anguish in his cries.

“He called for his father to save him,” a new voice says. “He believed, right until the end, that his daddy would find him and drive the monsters away.”

Tina shudders, tears springing to her eyes. The speaker shouldn’t be able to know that, shouldn’t be able to know what Tina is thinking or how Cole felt in his final nights.

“Lucy, what—?”

Hurried footsteps sound on the freighter ship’s metal floor, searching.

She needs to get away, she’s going to be caught, she’s in no position to fight. With the state she’s in, she isn’t sure she could fend off just one of them, let alone a small group, and Alice clearly doesn’t need her help.

Placing a hand on the wall to support herself, Tina moves through the door, hoping to slip away into the shadows before she’s found.

If only her heart weren’t hammering in her chest.

The footsteps grow louder, and then all but one pair stop.

“You!”

There’s hurt in North’s voice, and Tina hates being the cause of it. She hates that she jumped to conclusions, hates that she betrayed North’s trust, hates that she hadn’t come clean when there was still a chance to do it on her own terms.

North strides down the hallway, face contorted with anger, while the others—Alice, Markus, Lucy, and the tall one Tina doesn’t have a name for—hang back. Lucy’s pitch-black and unsettling eyes seem fixed on Tina, seeing more than humanly possible.

On cue, the vampire tilts her head like she’s listening to something the rest of them can’t hear. “She seeks to drown his swan song.”

Tina doesn’t fight as North grabs her by the arm and jerks her forward, until they’re inches apart and Tina can see the dangerous glint in North’s eye. It’s the closest she has ever looked to the murderous creature Tina thought she would be—and not because she is a monster, but because Tina lied to her. Hurt her.

“What are you doing here?” North hisses. “Who are you, really?”

Belatedly, Tina remembers her knife. The space between them is so miniscule that it takes no effort to rest the point of it against North’s abdomen, stopping her from advancing any further. She doesn’t want to use it—only wants to protect herself in the worst-case scenario—but she doesn’t know what North is going to do.

The hand clenching her bicep tightens until Tina feels five pinpricks from North’s fingernails drawing blood.

“Hunter,” North spits.

“North, wait!” Markus calls, starting down the hall after them.

His words go unheeded. North pushes Tina away, sending her careening into the hull of the ship, but doesn’t give her any room to recover. She grabs Tina again, this time from the back of her neck, directing her down the hallway and keeping the knife pointed away from herself.

“I can explain,” Tina says. “We don’t need to fight—”

“As much as I’d fucking love to, I’m not going to kill you.” North looks over her shoulder to address her friends. “So relax, alright?”

Tina doesn’t have the leeway to catch a glimpse of them. Her palm is sweaty around the hilt of her knife, and she can’t muster the willpower to break away from North’s hold, to fight, to do what she has done to several other vampires prior to this night.

She cares about North, and the Jericho vampires don’t deserve to be killed for simply existing.

They take a flight of stairs to the stern of the ship, and North doesn’t stop, not until they circle around to the bridge that connects to the pier. Here, she shoves Tina again, with enough force that Tina has to catch herself against the guardrail.

North blocks her access to the ship, standing tall with her arms crossed. “If I ever see you here again, not even Markus can stop me from tearing you to pieces.”

Despite North’s rage, despite the threat, Tina isn’t afraid of her and she knows this is all her own fault. North is taking a risk by letting her leave with her life.

“I fucked up,” Tina says. “I get it, I fucked up. But just let me—”

“Get out!”

North’s scowl leaves her fangs exposed to moonlight. They have never looked so dangerous and sharp, but Tina has never been so determined to approach a vampire with an olive branch.

“You aren’t the vampires I’m looking for. Zlatko is,” she tries. “I see that there’s a difference, now. Please, North, you have to believe me.”

“I don’t owe you anything. Get out, and don’t ever come back.”

“This isn’t… I didn’t want things to go this way.”

“No, of course you didn’t,” North snaps. “You wanted this to end with me and my family as piles of dust.”

She isn’t wrong, but a lot has changed since then. “That was before.”

North sighs in frustration, turning her head away from Tina in a clear dismissal.

It’s like a vice has clamped around Tina’s heart. “Okay, I’m going. I’ll… keep an eye out for your friend, alright? Kara, I mean.”

“Don’t bother, we’ll get her ourselves.”

Seeing that it’s futile, Tina nods and backs away, taking one last look at North’s angry, pained face before turning to go.

The heat of a summer’s night does nothing to ease the chill that has settled in the marrow of Tina’s bones.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> full on violence and body horror, this time.
> 
> for those unfamiliar with the world of darkness/vampire: the masquerade universe, here are a couple extra details that might be helpful to know:  
> \- wooden stakes don't kill vampires. they can immobilize them, but thats it  
> \- there are multiple types of vampires all with unique sets of abilities, which is how zlatko can do some wack shit that the rest of them don't

When Tina gets home to her apartment, she digs out her first aid kit and cleans the scratches on her arm under the bathroom’s fluorescent lighting, too numb to feel the sting of the disinfectant. On autopilot, she bandages up, gets changed, and falls into bed. She doesn’t have the energy to do anything else but roll the covers around her body like a cocoon and fall asleep.

Her dreams are host to gruesome crime scenes and angered roaring, and she wakes up as tired as she was the night before.

She wastes the daylight hours moping around the apartment, watching television on her laptop and cuddling with her cat, Rudy. The most she can be bothered to eat is canned soup done in the microwave.

More than anything, she wants to go to Gavin’s, steal one of his comfy hoodies, and whine about her misfortune like the two of them always used to do whenever dating and relationships got tough, but there are so many reasons why she can’t. Gavin will be sleeping at this hour in preparation for his night shift at Belle Isle and would be a cranky asshole if she woke him up early. He also wouldn’t take Tina’s change of heart in a calm, positive manner.

She considers going to Hank with what she learned, but immediately knows that’s a bad idea for the same reasons and more. Hank wouldn’t be able to pursue his son’s killer with a level head. She wants him to have his closure, but she doesn’t want him to die for it.

No, she has to do this without him. She has to do it for him.

That’s what gets her motivated by the time the sun sets. For three years, Hank has grieved so deeply that it rearranged his whole life, and Tina is in a position to do something about it. Her perspective has changed, but she’s still a hunter and she still wants to wipe Zlatko off the map, not just for humans, but for any beings who are threatened by him. The distraction will do her some good, too.

Resolved, Tina takes a shower, gets dressed, and gears up.

As she’s packing her things in a nondescript bag, her cat watches her from his perch on the back of the couch.

“If I die tonight,” Tina says, “go easy on Gavin. No more hissing at him because he smells like other cats. You’re gonna have to get used to it. He’ll take care of you.”

Rudy yawns, looking disinterested.

“Alright… I’m off.”

Tina slings her bag over her shoulder and steps out of the apartment.

It’s a long drive to the other side of town. She leaves the radio off, listening to the GPS directions with a singular focus as they lead her across the city.

Half a mile away from her destination, Tina pulls her car into a narrow alley between two old houses, the path overgrown with untended weeds. From her bag, she pulls out two knives and a handgun, strapping one knife to her forearm and holstering the second alongside the pistol on her belt. Lastly, she pockets a zippo lighter, just in case there’s an opportunity for it or she’s backed into a corner. If running into North’s friend is a possibility, fire needs to be a last resort.

She walks the rest of the way along the empty street, grateful to see no other humans out and most lights within the houses off, the residents safe inside. When she spots her destination ahead, she crosses the street and takes cover behind a tree while she scopes out the location.

The place is huge and ancient, complete with wood infrastructure, bay windows, and eerie ornamentation. Tina inspects each window in turn and sees large, lumbering shadows ghosting across the drapes. Sentries, crafted from the twisted forms of humans.

This time, Tina isn’t going to let old memories and revulsion hamper her. She’s going to put as many of those former-people out of their misery on her way to Zlatko.

Just as she’s about to slip out of cover, more shadows are cast across the drapes of the front, ground-floor window, and they’re humanoid. Two of them meet with one of Zlatko’s creations, and within a minute, the monstrous shadow is dispelled completely as its caster is reduced to ash.

It can only be Jericho.

Tina watches, processing, as two shadows move deeper into the house until she can no longer make out their forms and another continues to the side, splitting off.

If they’re here, North will be among them. She’s going to see North again.

If North is here, and she’s already in a house that’s full of flesh-sculpted creatures, she’s in the line of danger.

“Shit,” Tina mutters as she steps out from behind the tree, drawing her pistol and jogging across the street.

She grabs the knob of the front door, but it doesn’t turn, locked. Without second guessing herself, Tina raises her gun to the window and fires three triangulated bullets into the glass until it splinters and falls apart, giving her enough room to climb through without getting snagged by the jagged pieces.

A pile of ash dusts the carpet under her feet as she steps inside the mansion—a couple splashes of blood are the only sign that something made of flesh once stood there.

From above, there are the unmistakable sounds of a fight. Tina rushes up the grand staircase, bypassing a large work room where more ash is already settling onto the old rug and hardwood flooring. 

Around the corner of the hallway, North and Markus are fending off another. North delivers punches at an inhuman speed, slamming her fists into the creature’s center of mass.

Next to them, a wooden door bursts into splinters, ripped from its hinges and making way for another twisted form. It scrambles forth on four mismatched legs and both of its heads are contorted with agony, the humanoid one streaked with bloody tears and the other a drooling wolf’s maw, too large to be anything but a werewolf.

It leaps up and bowls into North, throwing them both against the walkway railing. The wood snaps under their weight and Tina watches with wide eyes as they disappear over the side, back to the ground floor.

“North!”

Tina sprints forward and throws her pistol to Markus, who catches it without missing a beat. “You keep dealing with that one, I’ll get North.”

Before he can reply, she draws both her knives and jumps off the landing. As she falls, she hears Markus fire twice, accompanied by the squelch of flesh.

The wolf head is snapping at North’s throat when Tina lands on the creature’s back, one of her knives embedded into each of the heads. The humanoid one goes limp and lifeless, but the wolf snarls, teeth gnashing, and Tina can just make out North’s pained grimace underneath it.

She pulls her knives free and stabs them into the wolf’s neck, jerking them both through muscle and tendons, splattering blood over her hands and North’s face.

Finally, the wolf goes still. North grabs onto both sides of its hairy head and rips it from the body, tossing it away. The rest of the body crumbles to dust between them, causing Tina to drop down on top of North.

She climbs off in a hurry, swallowing around the sudden lump in her throat.

“What the hell are you doing here?” North snaps as they both get back on their feet.

Tina lifts her bloody knives, gesturing widely around the old mansion foyer that’s now stained red and littered with ash. “What do you think I’m doing here?”

“I told you to stay away!”

“You told me not to come back to Jericho. You didn’t say anything about coming here.”

“It was implied!”

Huffing a frustrated breath, Tina turns away from her and heads back to the stairs. “Should have been more specific, then. Also, you’re welcome.”

“I had it handled.”

North stomps past her, shoving her to the side. It does nothing to deter Tina from following her back to the fight.

Ahead, Markus is throwing another abomination through the bathroom window, slicing it to ribbons on shattered glass.

“North, you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

Markus pulls Tina’s pistol off his belt and hands it back to her. “Clip’s empty.”

From inside the bathroom, the creature is struggling back to its feet and Tina winces at the look of it. Where most of them are expanses of molded flesh, this one looks flayed, its gory insides exposed and pouring out of its mangled body.

North goes to the door of the room, taking the safe way inside, and is upon the being in the blink of an eye. She uppercuts it and its head snaps back, neck broken and jutted out of place. With another strike to its pulsating chest, the creature goes down in a cloud of dust.

In the moment of relative peace, Tina pulls more ammunition from her jacket pocket and reloads her gun, then offers it back to Markus.

He gives her a bemused look as he takes it, then a nod of thanks.

“Have you gotten Zlatko, yet?” Tina asks.

Neither Markus or North get the chance to respond.

“No.”

Tina whirls around to see three others approaching. The only one Tina recognises is Simon, and he—with the help of another—is supporting the weight of their injured third. She has short, white hair and her facial features are distinctly inhuman, the flesh molded, but artistically instead of grotesquely. Valleys and ridges make a design of loops and curls over her eyebrows and under her cheekbones, which end with sharp, spiny points. She’s like Zlatko—able to contort flesh—but doesn’t wield it like he does, and looks to have suffered in his company. Bloody welts adorn her skin; there's a slash across her neck and more up her arms, visible through the torn sleeves of her shirt.

Kara speaks again. “The bastard is still hiding.”

“Who’s this?” North asks, stepping up in front of the other, eyes narrowing.

Simon raises a hand from Kara’s arm, using it to placate and slow North down. “He’s with us.”

“I am Luther,” the vampire says, giving a slight bow of his head in greeting. “I have no true loyalty to Zlatko and will help you kill him.”

North doesn’t back down. “He’s your Sire? We can’t trust you.”

“He’s my Sire, too,” Kara says. “Seeing Zlatko turned to ash would ease both our minds.”

There’s a beat of quiet while Markus and North consider, the two of them sharing a communicative look as they seek a consensus.

North takes a step back from Luther, dropping her confrontational stance, and Markus gives Luther a nod, accepting him into their ranks.

Then he turns a concerned look on Kara. “You should stay downstairs where it’s safe.”

“I want to see him die.”

Tina is in agreement. “How do we draw him out?”

Kara’s dark eyes look her up and down, but she doesn't comment on Tina’s humanity or ask how she's involved.

“In here,” she says, gesturing with a tilt of her head.

Simon and Luther help her forward, into another room. The rest of them follow.

It’s a sitting room, warmly lit by a crackling fire within the hearth. The windows are boarded up and covered by thick drapes that serve to block all sunlight, making it habitable for a vampire during daytime. With Simon and Luther’s help, Kara makes it to the far wall, where she places her palm against the peeling paper.

Tina opens her mouth to ask what’s supposed to happen, but the words die in her throat when the wall begins to shudder.

Protrusions bulge from its surface, stretching and undulating in a way that turns Tina’s blood cold. One of the shapes tightens and morphs until a face emerges, shifting from patterned wallpaper to dripping blood. Two hands form next, and then a barrel chest, and soon an entire figure made of writhing blood is pulling itself out of the wall.

“How dare you call me in such a way,” a deep voice rumbles out of the form. “You disobedient Childe.”

The form begins to solidify into the shape of a vampire, humanoid but modified like Kara. Grey skin is pulled taut over his features and his lower face is stripped to the bones, showing off a set of long, gnarled teeth.

“My efforts were wasted on you. You’ve even corrupted Luther.”

North reacts first, raising her fists.

Following her lead, Tina draws her arm back, eyes fixed on her target, and sends a knife flying through the air. It slices through the side of Zlatko’s neck, gouging into his flesh before lodging into the wall behind him.

Zlatko growls as the wound starts stitching itself together in increments, healing back to smoothness. He lunges forward.

North intercepts him, throwing her shoulder into his side and knocking him off his trajectory.

In the corner of her eye, Tina spots Simon pulling away from Kara and Luther, leaving Kara to Luther’s care so he can join the fray. He begins to shift, nails elongating into claws and fangs bared.

Markus fires Tina’s gun, keeping Zlatko pinned with a quick succession of bullets as Simon and North fly forward.

With Zlatko distracted, Tina darts across the room to retrieve her knife from the wall.

Simon’s claws cut deep and North’s strikes are an overwhelming force. Zlatko staggers back into the fireside table, knocking it askew. As it clutters to the floor, Zlatko’s body loses form, melting into blood and falling into the floor. The puddle seeps into the ground until all traces of the vampire are gone.

Eerie quiet settles into the room and the group of them are left to close ranks, back to back, watching for whatever comes next. Tina can hear Kara murmuring to Luther over the blood rush in her ears, the adrenaline setting all her nerve endings on fire.

She startles when a tendril of blood snaps out of the wall in front of her, slashing at her arm. A swipe of her knife has it separating in half with a wet gush, the malleable form breaking down and splashing to the floor at her feet.

More bloody tendrils lash out at the others around her, but Tina can only hope that they’re managing on their own as two spring forth to replace the first, one wrapping around her wrist to draw her in. The second takes advantage of her lost balance and curls around her bicep.

“Shit, damnit...”

Tina pivots her wrist and sends her knife into a spin, catching the hilt in a reverse grip before it falls. The edge of the blade dips into the convulsing blood, but not deep enough to cut through. Her heart hammers in her chest as she plants her heels and strains to break free.

There’s a blur next to her, and then North is slamming her fist into the wall hard enough that she leaves a crater of cracked plaster in her wake. The tendrils shake out, disrupted and retreating.

Tina’s breaths come heavy and laboured as she stumbles forward.

North doesn’t let her fall. Arms circle around Tina’s waist and keep her upright, leaving them to grasp onto each other as they regain their bearings.

“Guess that means we’re square,” Tina jokes.

“Not even close.”

The words slam Tina back to her senses, reminding her that outside of this moment and the heat of battle, they aren’t on speaking terms. If North had her way, they wouldn’t have ever seen each other again. Her face falls.

North swallows and drops her gaze in something Tina wants to interpret as regret, but she knows it’s nothing but a mirage playing with hope instead of reality.

They break apart from one another, returning to formation.

Guilt squirms in Tina’s gut, but there’s no time to dwell on it.

Zlatko steps out of the wall again, his skeletal face pulled in irritation. He waves his hand with a flash of magic, causing Simon to double over, clutching at his chest.

Markus gets a couple shots in before Tina and North attack as one, North dealing a punch to Zlatko’s face and Tina making a slash across his side.

She has to believe that they’re wearing him down, forcing him to the limits of his power just to keep up with their combined onslaught.

The vampire who mangled and killed Cole—and likely many others before him—is going to die. Just a little further, and Tina will be able to go to her friend and tell him there are less monsters in the world, not only because Zlatko will be dust, but because Zlatko is an exception, not the rule, and they have nothing to fear from Jericho.

At least one thing will have gone right. And maybe, when all is said and done, Tina will have a chance to make things up to North, too.

A strike of Zlatko’s palm has North flying back, all the way to the opposite wall. She grunts upon impact but catches herself, still on her feet. In her stead, Simon arcs a swipe with his claws, mirroring Tina’s own movement with her knives.

Blood splatters and Zlatko howls in pain, music to Tina’s ears.

In a flash, darkness blooms into the air all around them, swallowing them up and separating them from each other. Tina flinches low at the fluttering shadows and the cacophony of beating wings—a storm of bats, screeching in tandem. Tiny claws leave scratches on every bit of her exposed skin; she lifts her hands to cover her face, and her vision is obscured, she can’t see what’s happening, has lost track of where everyone else is around her.

A scuffle to her left draws her attention and the huff of exerted breath sounds like Simon, but she still can’t locate him in the dark, can’t wade through the swarm enough to get to him. She catches a glimpse of North’s strawberry-blond braid, and then the glint of Simon’s claws.

There’s a roiling tendril of blood ensnaring his wrist, directing him, weaponizing him.

“North, watch out!” Tina calls over the thunder of bat wings.

“What?”

Too much confusion and not enough time. Tina throws herself at North, pushing her, sending her falling through the swarm and away from danger. She manages to find North’s eyes, wide with shock, just as five talons dig across her abdomen.

Time slows.

It’s like nothing Tina has ever felt before. It burns, stings, radiates through her entire body. Her throat closes and she can’t draw breath.

The world tilts and sways.

She lands on her back, the force of the floor meeting her body causing her vision to explode white like a camera flash, blinding her.

Someone screams, and Tina doesn’t know who. She presses a trembling hand to her stomach and it becomes coated in blood.

The bats above her thin and dissipate. There's still noise, now a meld of angered yelling and crackling flames. She lets her head loll back and catches the blurry sight of North—wreathed in fury—holding down a struggling Zlatko in the fireplace hearth.

Markus is at her back, wrapping an arm around her and trying to pull her back. “Stop, stop, that’s enough!”

That’s when Tina sees that North’s own hands are aflame, too, in her determination to keep Zlatko from rising. Everything up to her elbows is red and black, cracking and peeling, and still she doesn’t let up.

“N-North—”

North’s head snaps up, wild eyes locking on Tina’s.

The distraction is enough for Markus to haul her away from the fire. The two of them tumble to the carpet, just as Zlatko begins to crumble.

Tina watches with satisfaction as the monster disintegrates, dust swirling in the fire and scattering onto the floor.

There’s a flurry of movement as Kara strips the cloth off the table that’s knocked over in the center of the room and uses the fabric to stifle the fire still licking up North’s hands. Luther is at her shoulder, watching over her. Simon curls into himself by Tina’s feet, folding his arms close to his chest.

They’ve won, for better or worse. Tina lets her heavy eyelids drop.

“No,” she hears North whine.

One moment she sounds far away, and the next there are hands on Tina’s shoulders, grasping on too tight. “No, no, no…”

A hand moves, slipping under her back, and Tina is lifted up off the ground. She gasps wetly at the redoubled sear of pain, her throat clogging with blood and her body quaking, weak and shutting down.

“Wait, North,” Markus says, above them. “You need to keep up your strength. Let me try.”

North growls at him, and he doesn’t speak again.

Tina hears the sound of tearing flesh before North cradles her close, hand on the back of her head. Her lips brush against North’s neck, slick with blood.

“Drink,” North commands.

Even through the haze, Tina knows what this means. She knows what mesmerising effect a vampire’s blood has on a human.

She isn’t in a position to decline, if she wants to live to see another day, and what’s left of her conscious mind is sure of one thing: North won’t take advantage. North can be trusted.

North didn’t want this—any of this—to happen. But it did, and she’s saving Tina’s life.

Tina does as North instructs, and accepts the consequences. North’s blood is hot on her lips, sweet on her tongue, and it dulls her mind as much as her body.

Everything blends together, her senses going in and out of focus. Sometimes she’s aware of the others moving around and talking, but mostly she leans against North and clutches at her with bloody hands, holding on to the one stable thing she can.

Part of her aches to give up the fight with consciousness. Another part insists that she can’t, because she might never wake back up, but she doesn’t feel like she’s dying. Only going to sleep.

Fingers slide through her hair. The motions aren’t smooth, and Tina imagines that North’s hands are still charred, skin mottled.

“You’re going to be okay,” North whispers.

Tina believes her, makes a faint noise of agreement.

She lets exhaustion take her, pulling her into calm darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

She wakes slowly, with far less pain than she expects the morning after a mission. A sheet is pulled up over her legs and folded at her waist, leaving the weight off her abdomen, which aches but doesn’t sting. There’s pressure wrapped over her wounds—bandages.

Enough natural light is passing through her eyelids that she knows it’s daytime and she’s no longer in the company of vampires.

The pang of loss and separation overpowers the physical pain. North’s absence is a gouge of its own, hollowing her out and leaving her empty.

Tina opens her eyes to Hank’s living room. The man himself is seated in the armchair, watching her with a deep frown on his face that reminds Tina of getting scolded by her parents for sneaking out when she was a kid.

“Rise and shine,” Hank says.

Tina grumbles at him in lieu of forming words, not quite ready to put forth the effort.

Hank fills the silence for her. “You better start piecing your story together, because I have a fuckload of questions I want answered as soon as you’ve got your head on straight. Assuming you’re still capable of such a thing. Fuck’s sake, Tina, what were you thinking with all of this?”

“Is’at question one?” Tina slurs.

Pressing his fingers to his temple, Hank sighs, long and aggrieved. “Might as well be.”

Tina stares at the ceiling and considers how to summarise it all, but comes up dry, her thoughts and memories still tangled. Once she’s properly awake, she can tell Hank the whole story, but he’ll have to wait until then.

“How’d I get here?”

Hank leans forward and plucks a phone off the coffee table. Tina recognises the charm dangling from the top corner as her own.

“Your new friends took a gander at your contact list and decided ‘Grumpy old man’ was a fresher vein than ‘Insufferable rat bastard’. Lucky me.”

North brought her here. Protected her, kept her alive, risked interacting with another hunter just to get Tina somewhere safe. Heat spreads through Tina’s chest and across her cheeks, a blend of gratitude and yearning.

“Did you see her? North.”

“Yeah, Tina. I saw all of them.”

“I need to… I need to get to Jericho. That’s where she is.”

Hank shakes his head. “You’re not going anywhere, with the state you’re in. The vamps knew better than to stay too close, I’ll give them that.”

The distance between her and North leaves her feeling cold and weak. “I’m fine.”

“Like hell you are.”

Tina pushes herself up, sliding back so she can rest against the arm of the couch. She’s wearing an old police academy t-shirt—a couple sizes too big—and she pulls up the hem.

The bandages circling her stomach are pristine. She slips her fingers underneath, lifting them enough to take a look at her injuries. Hank’s neat stitches are holding her together, but they’re hardly necessary anymore. There are five long lines of raised, irritated skin, but they appear as if they’ve been healing for a couple weeks instead of less than twenty-four hours.

She doesn’t get a chance to argue that she’s healed enough.

“I’m not talking about that,” Hank says. “You’re not going anywhere until the vampire’s blood is out of your system.”

An angered response boils out of her. “You can’t keep me here!”

Kicking the sheet off her legs, Tina stands up, ignoring the stab of pain that comes with her quick, jerky movements.

“Tina—”

Her legs wobble under her weight, forcing her to lean against the end of the couch and take a deep breath before she’s ready to keep going.

Hank catches up, first, making an obstacle of himself and blocking her path to the door. “You’re a fucking mess. Stop and give it a good think, huh?” He jabs a couple fingers at her forehead.

Intrinsically, she knows there’s truth in his words. She, Hank, and Gavin did their research when they got into the business of hunting. Once a detective, always a detective—they know how to find information that normally flies under the radar. She knows that her unnatural desperation to find North and her anger at being held back has everything to do with the liquid in her veins.

Knowing it doesn’t curb the insatiable need coursing through her.

“I have to.”

“Too bad. You’re not going to make it far until you regain your strength. How ‘bout some breakfast before you fall flat on your face?”

On cue, her stomach growls. She’d been too focused on a different kind of hunger to notice.

Hank circles an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side and directing her toward the kitchen. It’s only with his support that she stays upright on her weakened legs, and she privately admits that she wouldn’t be able to make it further than the end of the driveway without help.

“Sit,” Hank says, pushing her into a chair at the table. “While I cook, you’re going to start at the beginning and tell me everything.”

Tina pouts at him, but he’s already turning away from her to gather ingredients and utensils. For pancakes, from the looks of it. She wouldn’t be surprised if it has been three years since Hank last made pancakes—the thought brings on an unexpected swell of emotion as she watches him pour everything into a bowl and stir.

She plants her elbows on the table and puts her head in her hands, a shudder passing through her body.

It hits her that she almost died. She only feels a fraction of the pain she did while incapacitated on Zlatko’s mansion floor, but she could have died,  _ should  _ have died, if not for North’s intervention. She doesn’t regret helping take the monster down, but it was almost the last thing she ever did.

She doesn’t want to die, and she doesn’t want to put Hank or Gavin through her death, either.

“Well?” Hank asks. “Let’s hear it.”

He flicks the stovetop on before glancing over his shoulder at her while the element heats up, and the sight of her makes his expression soften. “Shit.”

Hank turns the stove back off and comes to stand next to her, laying a hand on her shoulder and drawing her close. She lets out a shaky breath as she leans into the hug, her forehead pillowed against him.

It all crashes into her at once—her body trembles, and her thoughts become scattered and disjointed. Hank holds her while she gasps in a harsh breath, struggling to keep calm.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Hank murmurs. “You’ll feel steadier in a couple days. It’s just a lot right now, isn’t it?”

Tina makes a noise of agreement in the back of her tightened throat.

“You’re healing fast, and I’m going to look after you until you’re back on your feet.”

She knows he means it. Recent years haven’t been kind to Hank, but he hasn’t completely buckled under the weight of them. Behind the grouchy attitude and emotional distance, he’s still that brilliant man who cares so deeply, maybe too much for his own good.

He’s not going to leave her hanging and she has just enough clarity of mind to know she should be grateful for that, not angry that he won’t let her leave.

For awhile, they stay as they are, until Tina’s breathing has slowed and her body has gone lax. Even then, Hank holds her a little longer, allowing her to soak up the comfort.

“You good?” he asks.

Tina nods and eases out of his arms, settling back in her chair.

Hank gives her hair a ruffle and goes back to the stove. As he works on making the pancakes, Tina watches with half-lidded eyes, mind calm for the time being. Every so often, her wounds twinge, and she still feels the pull to go looking for North, but she’s also content to stay put and let Hank take care of her.

A heaping pile of pancakes is presented to her with a ton of maple syrup, and Tina’s spirits lift as soon as she takes the first bite. It means a lot to her that Hank would go through the trouble. Sumo emerges from the other end of the house while they eat and flops down beside the table, head laid on Tina’s feet.

It isn’t until they’re half finished that Tina starts to talk. She tells Hank that every time she went to Jericho, the vampires seemed less like the soulless monsters she thought they would be, how getting close to North became a genuine interest instead of a mission, how the Jericho vampires were just as quick as she was to orchestrate Zlatko’s end.

Here, Hank lays his fork down on his plate and listens with sharp focus. Tina explains it all, from the abominations guarding Zlatko’s home to North allowing herself to be injured so Zlatko couldn’t escape his fate.

Hank doesn’t react, at first, merely stares into the middle distance as he processes. It’s a lot for him to wrap his mind around, so Tina gives him some time and space while she puts their dishes in the sink and then sits on the floor to pet Sumo.

By the clock on the oven, twenty-seven minutes pass before Hank says something.

“Her hands hadn’t healed, yet, when she brought you here. Burnt close to the bone. There are ash stains on your shirt from where she held you so close she was crumbling apart. Fuck’s sake.”

He brings a hand to his face, rubs at his eyes before running his fingers through his hair.

“Everything in me told me to put a bullet in her skull, but you were hanging on by a thread and she was beside herself about it. That’s not what a monster looks like, to me.”

Affection for North blooms inside Tina’s chest, and it’s a reaction she would have regardless of the blood in her veins. Her own emotions, heightened, intensified, more insistent, but still her own.

“You saw it with your own eyes?” Hank asks. “You saw him turn to dust?”

Tina nods from where she’s still sitting on the linoleum with her hand in Sumo’s thick fur. “I was losing blood fast and close to unconscious, but I saw it. No mistaking it. No returning from a pile of ash. He’s gone for good, Hank.”

Nodding, Hank exhales a long breath, and Tina can see the moment he accepts it all as truth. Accepts it as finished.

“I know you would have liked to do the job yourself,” she says. “I’m sorry.”

Hank shrugs one shoulder. “Yeah, I would’ve. But I’ve seen enough crimes of passion to know revenge doesn’t tend to work that way.”

Hearing him say as much lifts a weight off Tina’s shoulders, makes her glad she kept him in the dark until the danger passed.

“You’ve really turned it all upside down, kiddo,” Hank says as he taps his fingers against the surface of the kitchen table. “I’ve got a vampire to thank for killing my son’s murderer.”

Tina gives him a lopsided grin. “Welcome to my world. Nothing makes sense anymore, but at the same time, it makes more sense than before.”

“I’m going to get a headache, unpacking all this shit.”

Hank pushes himself up out of his chair and offers his hand to Tina. She lets herself be lifted to her feet and led out of the room. Instead of going back to the couch, Hank takes her down the hallway.

“Let’s get rid of those stitches, huh? You’ve outgrown them.”

The trek to the bathroom is easier than the first trip to the kitchen—Tina already feels her strength bouncing back. That means she’ll be good enough to see North soon, will be good enough to get to Jericho under her own power and make sure North is okay.

Hank has her hop up onto the countertop and lift her shirt above her abdomen, giving him access to her bandages. He unwraps them and eases the stitches from her healing wounds with a steady hand.

When he’s done, Tina runs her hand over her stomach, drawing her fingers along what’s left of the claw slashes. The scars might yet fade, or it might take more of North’s blood to finish the job.

Hank gets her a towel and a new change of clothes before leaving her alone to shower, telling her to call for him if she needs help.

She manages without. The clothes include one of Hank’s loud patterned button-downs, which has Tina rolling her eyes and smiling in tandem. If he’s hoping for an annoyed reaction from her, she’s going to deprive him of it and wear his ridiculous shirt with grace.

The rest of the day is spent relaxing, Hank making sure Tina stays put and promising that Kara’s human daughter, Alice, is looking after her cat in her absence. Tina accepts that all the bases have been covered to keep her under house arrest until her mind is wholly her own, and tries not to fight it.

It gets easier as the week progresses.

Before Hank is willing to let her leave, he insists on interrogating her. He sits her down at the kitchen table and takes a seat across from her, like he’s a lieutenant again and Tina is a suspect who has to convince him of her innocence.

“Where’s your head at?” he starts.

“More than anything, I’m restless. Your company is always a joy, but I could use a change of scenery.”

Hank snorts. “Guess I can’t blame you for that. Nothing going on in there that isn’t called for, then?” he asks, tapping his forehead.

“Not anymore,” Tina says. She thinks of North—of course, she still thinks of North—but she can tell the difference between an unnatural infatuation and her own genuine desire.

“Once you’re out of here, where are you planning to go first?”

“Home. I’m not going to Jericho until I’ve got myself settled and dressed in my own clothes, Hank.”

Hank nods slowly, poker face hiding his thoughts. “Makes sense. I’m sure you want to check on Rudy, too.”

It’s weird to think that a teenager she only knows through association is cat-sitting for her. “He’s probably so cranky.”

“I’m going to drive you there. Sound good?”

“Yeah, sure,” Tina says, shrugging. Turning him down would make him suspicious, and she has no reason to, anyway—her options are to accept or hail a cab, since Kara and Alice took her car to her apartment.

“Alright. One more question and then you’re free to go.”

Tina nods.

“How do you feel about North?”

Eyes widening, Tina stares across the table at Hank, struggling to find the right words. She and Hank have supported each other during the past three years and Tina trusts him—has felt safe with him—but they don’t have a history of talking about their feelings. Neither Tina nor Gavin bothered to give Hank any useless condolences when Cole died, knowing that no words in existence could have comforted him, at the time.

And Tina has barely had any time to sort her feelings for herself, let alone figure out how to voice them. She’s drawn to North, was drawn to her before ever getting a taste of her blood. She likes the way North talks, likes how she carries herself, likes her fire and strength. She’s eager to learn more about North, especially now that there are fewer obstacles between them.

“I, um…” Tina says, “well, at first, it was just… but then I actually talked to her, so…”

Hank grimaces. “Jesus, nevermind. I think if you were under the influence, you would be able to string together an eloquent word or two. Crazed poeticism, or whatever.”

Groaning, Tina raises her hands to her face and covers her heated cheeks. “What good did you think would come from asking me that?”

“Obviously my main intention was to embarrass you,” Hank deadpans. “You know I had to ask.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Are we done?”

“We’re done. Full bill of health.”

Hank stands and gives her a consoling pat on the shoulder, then goes to the front of the house to get ready. Tina joins him in her own time, grabbing her belongings from the living room.

When they step outside, she takes a long, deep breath of fresh air. The afternoon sun is still out, and Tina wonders what North is doing right now while she waits for sunset.

It’s one of the things she hopes to learn about North in the coming days.

Tina gets into the passenger seat of Hank’s old car and watches the city go by while Hank drives her home.

Without her apartment keys, she’s left to knock on her own door. From the other side, there are light footsteps and the sound of someone speaking lowly, too quiet for Tina to make out. It’s accompanied by Rudy’s meowing.

The door swings open, and it isn’t Alice, or even Kara, who greets her.

North’s look of annoyance immediately clears into open surprise that matches Tina’s own. “Tina, it’s you.”

“I didn’t expect—”

“Yeah, me neither…”

Tina chuckles nervously. “Well, I live here.”

“Right,” North says, with a jolt. She hurriedly steps aside, letting Tina in.

In the ensuing awkward silence, Tina notices that North’s arms and hands have healed from the fire—her flesh filled out and no longer black as char—but some patches remain, reddened like a human with a sunburn. Other than that, North is her usual self, from her tidy braid and usual outfit to her placid expression.

Seeing her again is a balm on Tina’s mind, just like her blood was the cure to Tina’s wounds.

Face heated, Tina scratches at the back of her neck and glances around the living room, seeing the blanket from the back of the couch draped over the windows to block the sunlight and Rudy sulking under the armchair, yellow eyes shining bright as he watches Tina and North from afar.

“Were you arguing with my cat?” Tina asks.

North huffs as she closes the door and crosses her arms. “He hates me.”

“He hates most people, don’t take it personally. I thought Alice was watching him, and that you would be at Jericho.”

“Yeah, that’s what Simon told Hank to say, to throw you off. Just in case you came looking for me.”

It’s smart; Tina can’t find it in her to be annoyed by the lie. She’s also glad to hear Simon had gathered himself enough to come up with the ruse, considering the last time Tina saw him.

She lays a hand on her stomach at the unbidden memory of his claws tearing into her.

Gentle fingers curl around Tina’s bicep—the same that used to have five pinprick scratches that have now healed supernaturally. North brushes her thumb over Tina’s arm, light through the fabric of her borrowed shirt. “Simon feels like shit for what happened.”

“I know it wasn’t his fault.”

“He’s going to apologise anyway.”

Even before Tina talked to North and realised the vampires of Jericho weren’t as removed from humanity as she first thought, she sensed no ill-intent from Simon. She doesn’t hold her injuries against him. It could have happened to any of them.

“Yeah?” she says. “Guess that means I’m allowed back at the ship.”

North’s gaze drops down to the carpet. “If you want.”

“I do. I was planning to go back even though you told me not to.”

“Figures,” North says, but her tone is affectionate instead of short.

Tina wants to keep hearing her talk that way, wants to soak up that intimate tone and what it means for the two of them going forward. 

“I wasn’t going to let that be the last time we saw each other,” Tina says, stepping closer. “You did save me a trip, though.”

North wets her lips as her eyes rove over Tina’s face, expression open and gentle—the opposite of how she looked when escorting Tina off the deck of Jericho.

It eases some of the anxiety and guilt that has clung to Tina since that night, every time she thinks about the terms they parted on. It feels further in the past than it is, with everything that has happened since, but its effects linger.

North opens her mouth to speak, then closes it again with a frustrated grimace. She draws away, taking her hand off Tina’s arm and putting distance between them.

“Are you even sure of what you want?” she asks.

Tina frowns. She aches to reach out for North but reels herself in, letting North have the space she needs. “Yeah, I’m pretty damn sure.”

North shakes her head, unconvinced. “You can’t be.”

“Hank wouldn’t have let me come home, otherwise, believe me.”

“What about before that?” North asks, purposely avoiding eye contact. “Coming to Jericho was just a job to you. I appreciate that you fought with us, but…”

“Yeah, it was,” Tina admits. North’s face darkens, so she quickly forges on, trying not to stumble over her words like she did at Hank’s. “But like I said when you threw me off the ship, I had it all wrong. As soon as I started talking to you… everything changed. I think my feelings for you stopped being act right after that first night.”

Finally, North meets Tina’s eye again, cautiously appraising her.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” Tina adds. “I kept telling myself I should come clean, explain myself, but I just… couldn’t figure out how, I guess.”

The admission makes North soften and she gives the tiniest of nods. “I see how it would be a dilemma.”

“If we hadn’t crossed paths at Zlatko’s, I would have come back. I want you to know that it was real, no matter how it started. No more secrets, no more lies.”

The way North looks at her, then, makes her heart soar. Gentleness in her features but fire in her eyes, a genuine and unbridled desire. Tina knows they feel the same; she saw it in the way North warmed up to her during their nights spent together at Jericho, and she saw it in the pain she caused North with her betrayal. She knew it when they protected each other during the fight, when North had flames flickering up her arms but didn’t let it stop her.

And still, North responds with restraint, as controlled as she always has been. “Maybe we should take a step back, wait a bit longer. I don’t want you to be… compelled. I’m not that kind of person.”

Tina knows that, with every fibre of her being. Stepping forward, she takes North’s face in her hands, palms warm against North’s cold skin, and urges North to see the clarity in her eyes, hear the unfaltering beat of her heart as she speaks the truth.

“I don’t want you because of your blood, North, I want you because of who you are.”

North blinks in shock, but it dissipates in mere seconds and her lips curl into a grin. “You’ve always been so forward.”

When she was acting within a persona, being bold was easy, it was part of the mission. After everything, it’s still easy—for different reasons. She doesn’t want to waste any time beating around the bush, not when she’s so sure they’re on the same page and they have the chance they almost lost.

“Just being honest,” she says, grinning back. “But I’m not going to pressure you any more than you’re going to compel me. We can take it at your speed, alright? I’m not going anywhere.”

North nods and places her hands on Tina’s hips, tentative at first, then firmer when she seems to make up her mind. She slides her fingers under the loose hem of Tina’s shirt—patterned like couch upholstery from the 80’s—and her thumbs press into the bare skin of Tina’s stomach, a couple inches away from her scars.

“You got hurt protecting me,” North whispers, “even though I was acting like a jerk.”

“I would have done it either way. It wasn’t about getting in your good graces.”

North rests her forehead against Tina’s, eyes closing. “I know.”

They move in sync; Tina circles her arms around North’s neck and North wraps her arms around Tina’s waist. Closing the last distance between them, North kisses Tina with great care, never allowing her fangs to more than skim Tina’s flesh. The drag of them is enough to make Tina shiver but not to puncture and draw blood. The temperature difference between them is stark, but North feels less cold the longer they kiss, sharing Tina’s warmth.

Tina thought moments and emotions like these were behind her, locked away in a chapter of her life that had been snapped shut. She thought survival would be the crux of her existence until the bitter end, no room left for this kind of happiness.

Tina presses her lips harder against North’s for a final moment before pulling back to catch her eye. There’s an actual flush to North’s cheeks, warmer than the usual grey undertone.

“Stay here with me?”

“Sun’s still up.”

“Even past sunset.”

“Yes,” North answers with a small smile. “I’m not going anywhere, either.”

Tina kisses her again, this time a brief, chaste exchange—an agreement, a promise. She steps back and takes North’s hand to lead her deeper into the apartment.

“I’m in dire need of a wardrobe change,” she says.

North’s smile shifts from sincere to teasing as she reaches down to pluck at a button of Tina’s shirt. “Not your usual style, is it?”

“I’m not sure this counts as a style in the first place.”

From the hallway, Tina spots lines of sunlight stretching across the carpet of her bedroom, filtering in through her blinds.

“Damnit. Give me a sec.”

“It’s fine, I can just…” North says, gesturing to the living room.

“No, it’s not a problem,” Tina insists.

She slips her hand back out of North’s and goes into the room alone, grabbing a flannel blanket out of her closet to cover the window blinds. She’ll need to permanently replace them with a heavy curtain, and she’s more than happy to do it, if it means she’ll have North’s company.

When she turns around, North is in the doorway, resting a hand on the frame moulding as she watches Tina.

“You don’t need permission to cross the threshold, do you?” Tina jokes.

North huffs a light breath and proves that she’s perfectly capable of joining Tina inside the room. She closes the distance between them and takes Tina into her arms.  “Thank you,” she murmurs.

Tina presses a kiss to her cheekbone. “Of course. I asked you to stay, didn’t I? I’m not going to let the sun stop us.”

Now that North is part of her life, Tina intends to make her feel welcome and safe. A lot has changed and will continue to change as she settles into the new way of things, but she has no regrets, no reservations.

Tina doesn’t know what the upcoming days will hold, but she knows North will be at her side and they’ll face them together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! <3

**Author's Note:**

> if you're interested in chatting with other dbh fans, check out the detroit: new era discord server! <https://discord.gg/GqvNzUm>


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